1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process for the purification of organic compound-containing wastewater streams like those generated by the chemical processing and refining industries and the eradication of such organic compounds after their removal from the stream. More particularly, this invention relates to a process for removing organic compounds from such wastewater streams by first steam stripping the wastewater stream to reduce the concentration of the organic compounds in the aqueous stream followed by passing a stream comprising the steam and stripped organic compounds over a catalyst at an elevated temperature to convert the hydrocarbon portion of the organic compounds to a mixture comprising primarily hydrogen and carbon dioxide.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known in the art to remove organic impurities from industrial wastewater or other contaminated aqueous streams by steam stripping.
In a typical steam-stripping process, contaminated water is directed into the top of a stripper column. Steam, as the vaporizing/stripping gas, enters the column near the bottom and flows upwardly. As the downwardly moving water and the upwardly moving steam contact each other, a portion of the steam condenses on the cooler feed water to heat the water to its boiling point. The remainder of steam vaporizes the hydrocarbon impurities in the wastewater and carry the impurities out of the column in the vapor phase. As the vapor phase leaves the column, it is passed through a heat exchanger to condense the vapors to a mixture of water and the organic impurities. The organic impurities are separated from the water in a decanter vessel and the organic impurities are discharged to an incinerator, a bio-treatment facility or carried to another point for further processing and recovery. The water phase, which is still saturated with dissolved organic impurities, is recycled back to the column and stripped again to remove the impurities.
The steam stripping process described above has several major drawbacks. Most significantly is the incomplete separation of the organic contaminants from the steam condensate and the additional processing of the organic contaminants before they are transformed in a material suitable for release into the environment.
A goal of the instant invention is a process for the eradication of organic constituents from industrial wastewater streams or other aqueous streams, which incorporates the separation capabilities of steam stripping with the destruction efficiency of steam reforming.